an ever-present mirror

In a world that allows and even encourages us to continually point the finger of blame at someone else, we lack a mass mechanism by which to examine ourselves. In our observing of the world, perhaps we need an accompanying mirror… Instead of judging everyone and everything from our armchair, we need an impetus to recognize our own errancies. Why do I think the way I do? Why do I believe what I do? Why do I do what I do? We need more self-reflection in the context of world/community happenings.

There’s a tinge of irony in this. Our culture today is largely characterized by an unfortunate level of narcissism. It seems that we spend too much time thinking about ourselves.

But we often only do so in an external sort of way. We think about our facades, how we appear to other people. This examination doesn’t often extend to our fundamental identity, our foundational beliefs.

We read the news and continually make judgments… That person’s bad, this person’s good. That decision’s bad, this one’s good… It’s an environment where hypocrisy runs rampant. We complain and blame our leaders, thinking that they just don’t get it, but then fail to recognize our own similar shortcomings.

This isn’t to say that many of our leaders should be excused for their bad behavior or destructive rhetoric. It’s to say that we each have much to learn in regards to human nature and how our surrounding environment with all it’s expectations, pressures, and enticements brings to life that nature.